Media Coverage

Welcome to the "Lessons from the C-suite" series, featuring Advisory Board President Eric Larsen's conversations with the most influential leaders in health care.[CR-LF][CR-LF]In this edition, Steve Rusckowski, chair, president, and CEO of Quest Diagnostics, talks about how diagnostic information services can inflect the country's $3.6 trillion in health care costs, the unexpected upside of the Theranos misadventure, and how Quest is thinking about the drawbacks—and benefits—of the landscape-changing regulatory shift known as PAMA.

Over the past year, I’ve spent time outside of the office helping two uncles, both of whom are struggling with medical conditions exacerbated by their advanced ages. This has been neither a burden nor an obligation; I consider it a privilege to be able to help provide loving care for the two of them.[CR-LF][CR-LF]According to a recent survey by Quest Diagnostics, 2 in 5 older Americans with chronic conditions reported that they do not tell their doctor about loneliness, isolation, transportation barriers and other factors that influence health, with many admitting they "struggle to stay on top of my health issues and need more support."

Further, physicians may not be as prepared as they think when it comes to spotting signs of misuse: 83% of physicians believe they're able to adequately screen for prescription drug misuse, yet more than half of all patient test results processed by Quest Diagnostics for prescription drug monitoring showed signs of misuse.

A New Jersey federal judge on Friday gave her initial approval to a $195,000 deal in a proposed class action against Quest Diagnostics Inc. over a November 2016 data breach that exposed the personal information of about 34,000 customers.

There’s at least some data to back that up, according to (the aptly-named) Dr. Barry Sample, a senior director at Quest Diagnostics, a company that conducts more than 10 million workforce drug tests annually.[CR-LF][CR-LF]Sample leads the team that analyzes those tests. He said from 2015 to 2018, the number of drug tests performed that included marijuana dropped across the country, but most prominently in states where recreational weed is legal.

Quest Diagnostics and the bioinformatics company Hc1 have unveiled Quest Lab Stewardship, a service that uses machine learning to harmonize laboratory testing across health care systems in an effort to improve lab test utilization.[CR-LF][CR-LF]Quest Lab Stewardship “integrates in real-time with enterprise systems and leverages Hc1’s machine-learning capabilities to ingest, organize, and normalize lab data, alleviating the time and effort of manual data gathering and analysis,” according to a press announcement from Quest. “It also provides a framework for lab directors and hospital administrators to consult with medical staff to identify areas of concern and implement compendium updates and order prompting based on selected clinical guidelines.”

If you've been prescribed pain pills and think doctors are avoiding you as a new patient, you just might be right. [CR-LF][CR-LF]A large percentage of primary-care doctors (81%) say they're hesitant to accept new patients who've been prescribed pain meds, a newly released survey shows. Even more (83%) say the opioid crisis makes it harder to treat pain patients.[CR-LF]The new report, Drug Misuse in America 2019: Physicians Perspectives and Diagnostics Insights on the Evolving Drug Crisis, shows findings indicating that the opioid crisis continues to have a major impact on physicians and people in pain.

If you've been prescribed pain pills and think doctors are avoiding you as a new patient, you just might be right. [CR-LF][CR-LF]A large percentage of primary-care doctors (81%) say they're hesitant to accept new patients who've been prescribed pain meds, a newly released survey shows. Even more (83%) say the opioid crisis makes it harder to treat pain patients.[CR-LF]The new report, Drug Misuse in America 2019: Physicians Perspectives and Diagnostics Insights on the Evolving Drug Crisis, shows findings indicating that the opioid crisis continues to have a major impact on physicians and people in pain.

While reporting financial results for the third quarter on Tuesday, Quest Diagnostics Inc. (DGX) raised its earnings and adjusted earnings guidance for the full-year 2019. For fiscal 2019, the company now projects earnings in a range of $5.48 to $5.53 per share and adjusted earnings in a range of $6.45 to $6.50 per share on net revenues of about $7.72 billion.

Almost three-quarters of primary care physicians believe that their patients will take their controlled medications as prescribed, but more than half of drug-monitoring lab tests show signs of misuse, according to a new report from Quest Diagnostics.

There’s still a lot of work to do to bring the nation’s opioid crisis under control, but the health care industry needs to wake up and realize it’s only a matter of time before the same thing happens with a new drug. Over-prescribing other drugs could result in a new crisis, which is why prescription drug monitoring and additional training about the challenges of addiction is so critical for doctors.

Quest Diagnostics, Secaucus, NJ, and the precision testing company hc1, Indianapolis, have introduced a service to optimize the use of laboratory tests. Called Quest Lab Stewardship, the strategic collaboration will use the hc1 machine-learning platform to improve the clinical impact and cost of laboratory testing, both in and out of hospital settings.

Recognizing that safety concerns are paramount as decriminalization of cannabis continues in states throughout the U.S., the National Safety Council calls on employers to restrict cannabis use for those in safety sensitive positions – regardless of whether cannabis consumption is allowed by their state. In a policy position released today, NSC defines safety sensitive positions as those that impact the safety of the employee and the safety of others as a result of performing that job. Marijuana is the most frequently used illicit drug of abuse in the U.S. and the drug most often detected in workplace drug testing according to Quest Diagnostics.

Most primary care physicians (62%) fear the opioid drug crisis will be traded for a new prescription drug crisis and nearly three quarters (72%) worry that chronic pain patients will turn to illicit drugs if they do not have access to prescription opioids, according to a new Health Trends™ report from Secaucus-based Quest Diagnostics. Seventy percent of primary care physicians wish they had more training on how to taper their patients off opioids.

Recreational marijuana use is now legal (or about to be) in 11 states and Canada. Driving under its influence is not. But if police suspect someone is driving high, they’ll have a difficult time proving it: Marijuana tests typically rely on urine samples, take days to analyze, and may only indicate that someone has used marijuana over the past days or even weeks, not whether they are actively impaired. Marijuana is the most commonly flagged substance in workplace drug tests, according to Quest Diagnostics, which sells testing services to employers. Nearly 3% of all screenings the company processed in 2018 tested positively for the drug (4.4% of screenings tested positive for any substance).

Recreational genealogy firm Ancestry has partnered with Illumina and Quest Diagnostics to expand into health-related genetic testing. [CR-LF][CR-LF]The company today announced two services: AncestryHealth Core, which is available immediately and uses microarray genotyping performed by Illumina, and AncestryHealth Plus, a membership-based offering that will be available for customers in a few months using next-generation sequencing conducted by Quest Diagnostics. Physicians in telemedicine firm PWNHealth's network will review and approve customer orders based on online questionnaires , at which point patient saliva samples will be sent to the labs for analysis and reporting.

In June of 2018, Mark Pennington received troubling news from his ex-girlfriend, with whom he shared custody of their 2-year-old son. She had taken a hair follicle from the boy, she said, and had it analyzed at a lab. A drug test had returned positive for THC, the intoxicating compound in marijuana; evidently their son had been exposed to it, presumably in Mr. Pennington’s presence. He was told that, from then on, he would be permitted to see the child only once a week, and under supervision. [CR-LF]Barry Sample, the senior director of science and technology at Quest Diagnostics, the biggest purveyor of drug tests in the country, said he was familiar with the problem outlined in the 2012 paper, but said Quest Diagnostics did not use that methodology. “We use a different analytical procedure,” Dr. Sample said.

Genealogy giant Ancestry is getting into the business of healthcare. On Tuesday, the company announced two health products: AncestryHealth Core and AncestryHealth Plus, which can help users of the company's DNA test get a sense of their family health history. AncestryHealth Core will cost $149 — or $49 if users have already taken an Ancestry test — while Plus will cost $199, and additional quarterly updates after the first six months will cost $49 fee every six months. Here's what's included in the reports. Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories. For the first time, family-history website Ancestry will tell you about your genetic health.[CR-LF][CR-LF]Users who have already submitted their spit to Ancestry before don't have to submit a new samples. The products will take about 6-8 weeks to report after ordering, even for those who have already taken the Ancestry test. The company said it plans to have the Plus program available widely in 2020. To perform the next-generation sequencing test, Ancestry's partnering with lab-testing firm Quest Diagnostics.

More than half of the US.. states and roughly one-third of major U.S. industries saw their rates of workforce drug test positives climb over the past three years – with positives hitting their highest rates in 2018 in more than a decade, according to a series of recent reports from Quest Diagnostics.[CR-LF][CR-LF]Oregon, Maine, Vermont, Alabama, Louisiana and Massachusetts had the highest rates of positive results for urine-based drug tests, according to Quest's analysis of more than 10 million screenings for illicit substances. Across the country, 4.4% of the analyzed drug tests yielded positive results in 2018. In Oregon and Maine, however, more than 6% of the tests were positive last year.

Since 1988, federal regulations have required commercial drivers to submit urine samples for pre-employment, random, and post-accident testing for prohibited drugs.[CR-LF][CR-LF]Twenty years on, the Government Accountability Office (the investigative arm of Congress) published a study outlining serious challenges confronting the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration in its oversight of the drug-testing program:[CR-LF][CR-LF]In more than 9% of compliance reviews conducted between 2001 and 2007, carriers had no drug-testing programs at all.Quest Diagnostics reported earlier this year a rise in urine specimens reported as invalid suggest more efforts to cheat.[CR-LF][CR-LF]Drug-testing labs are getting more sophisticated about catching cheaters, but at the same time cheaters are getting smarter about how they try to game the system.

Historically low unemployment rates and increasing marijuana use has led some employers in states where recreational cannabis is legal to drop their zero-tolerance policies.[CR-LF][CR-LF]But not everyone is ready to make the leap.[CR-LF][CR-LF]As Illinois readies for recreational marijuana to become legal on Jan. 1, employers here are being told to consider how a zero-tolerance policy may affect their ability to recruit workers.[CR-LF][CR-LF]“Unemployment is so low that employers cannot insist on a zero-tolerance policy,” said Curtis Graves, staff attorney for the Denver-based Employers Council not-for-profit. The council has surveyed Colorado employers every other year since 2014 when recreational use of cannabis was legalized in the state.[CR-LF]Marijuana positivity increased by 75% from 2013 to 2016 in the general U.S. workforce, according to the Quest Diagnostics Drug Testing Index. Nearly 9% tested positive in 2016, according to Quest.

Q&A with David Freeman. Most people I talk to in pharma and biotech know that Quest Diagnostics is a leader in laboratory diagnostic services. What they often don’t know is the depth of the company's experience and capabilities in data, analytics and services across the development continuum. Beyond having over 48 billion clinical lab results in its database, Quest has 2,250 patient service centers, increasingly in retail locations, 20,000 mobile care professionals seeing patients in workplaces and the home. Quest provides services to half the country’s hospitals and physicians roughly a third of the adult U.S. population every year. The Clinical Insights portfolio started in 2015 with dialogue between Quest data scientists and medical directors with researchers in pharma who were trying to understand large patterns in disease progression, diagnosis and treatment. Those dialogues, which continue to this day, produce rich insights and customized at-scale data sets and analysis used for research and the planning of new therapeutic launches.

Op-ed: Is blockchain the technology that’s going to fix healthcare’s many problems? Potentially. But not now. Not even close. Before we can fix healthcare with blockchain, we need to break down the barriers that are preventing blockchain from fixing healthcare. The Synaptic Health Alliance pilot has been a cue about blockchain’s future in healthcare. Led by healthcare giants Aetna, Ascension, Humana, MultiPlan, Optum, UnitedHealthcare, and Quest Diagnostics, the program plans to use blockchain to reduce administrative costs and improve data quality. Early this year, other big-time players — Aetna, Anthem, Health Care Service Corporation (HCSC), PNC Bank, and IBM — announced a new collaborative that will leverage blockchain technology to enhance interoperability and transparency in healthcare. Many smaller partnerships continue to follow suit. However, it doesn't pay to be a guinea pig.

Hc1's software employs machine learning to prevent health systems from ordering too many or too few tests, a mistake that can lead to missed diagnoses and costly procedures.

According to a new analysis by Quest Diagnostics, one-third of U.S. industry sectors experienced year-over-year double-digit increases in workforce drug positivity between 2015 and 2018, with marijuana as the most commonly detected drug. The Quest Diagnostics Drug Testing Index is an analysis of more than 14 million urine drug tests of the general U.S. workforce in 17 different sectors.

Quest Diagnostics, through its Cleveland HeartLab subsidiary, has entered into an agreement to purchase for $8.5 million certain assets of bankrupt testing firm True Health Diagnostics.

Michigan is preparing to usher in a new era with legal recreational marijuana sales in 2020, but the state's largest employers say their pre-employment drug screenings that include cannabis will not change. The state's residents already are failing pre-employment drug screening tests at a rate higher than elsewhere in the nation. According to Quest Diagnostics data, the numbers of people who didn't pass pre-employment drug screenings and likely lost potential job opportunities has increased by 31% from 2014 to 2018, and jumped more than 20% between 2017 and 2018, alone. A Quest Diagnostics scientist said the numbers suggest a spike in marijuana use.

Americans largely don't trust the healthcare system to secure their data, and one doesn't have to dig hard to find out why. In 2018, the healthcare sector retained the dubious honor of being the industry with the most data breaches, and less than a quarter of the country trusts health systems to protect their information, according to an August survey by the Harvard T.H. Chain School of Public Health. HHS first began requiring healthcare providers and their business associates to publicly disclose data breaches involving 500 people or more roughly a decade ago. Last year, nearly 300 breaches exposed the records of 11.5 million patients, and one single cybersecurity breach this year hitting the billing collection vendor for lab giants Quest Diagnostics and LabCorp affected the data of nearly 20 million patients.

Laboratory testing is one of the most commonly performed medical activities with, according to the American Clinical Laboratory Association, some 7 billion tests ordered each year.[CR-LF][CR-LF]A substantial number of those tests are likely unnecessary, however. A 2013 meta-analysis published in Plos One, for instance, found that roughly 21 percent of lab test orders represented over-utilization, meaning they didn't add information that was useful to patient careAt the same time, the study put the test underutilization rate at almost 45 percent, indicating that in a substantial proportion of cases, potentially useful tests are never used.[CR-LF][CR-LF]Also last week, Quest Diagnostics announced it had developed in collaboration with bioinformatics firm Hc1 a test utilization optimization system using Hc1's machine learning technology.[CR-LF][CR-LF]Called Quest Lab Stewardship, the product is part of Quest's broader move into providing lab management services for hospitals and health systems.[CR-LF][CR-LF]The system uses guidelines developed by the ABIM Foundation's Choosing Wisely initiative to assess the appropriateness of test orders combined with Hc1's data analysis and integration capabilities to help hospital systems make more effective use of that appropriateness data.

A truck driver who says he took CBD oil for injuries to his hip and back that he suffered in a vehicle accident is suing the company that produced the product, alleging mislabeling.[CR-LF][CR-LF]The lawsuit says that the label stated the product contained no THC, or tetrahydrocannabinol, the compound in marijuana that produces a high. But following a random drug screening, Douglas Horn, of New York, was told by his employer that he tested positive for THC, his lawsuit states.[CR-LF][CR-LF]Employees subject to random drug tests need to be especially careful, said Barry Sample, director of science and technology solutions for Quest Diagnostics, a global diagnostic test and information network.

The National Business Group on Health presented 50 employers with 2019 Best Employers: Excellence in Health & Well-Being awards at its Workforce Strategy 2019 Conference in San Diego this week.[CR-LF][CR-LF]Now in its 15th year, the Best Employers: Excellence in Health & Well-Being awards recognize employers with exceptional commitment to improving their employees’ overall well-being, productivity and quality of life. The awards program incorporates a wide range of well-being contributors including financial security, mental and physical health, social connectedness and community involvement. Quest Diagnostics is listed as a Gold member.

The rate of newly diagnosed acute and chronic hepatitis B virus infections in women of childbearing age has significantly increased in some Appalachian states, despite overall national rates that have declined or remained stable.[CR-LF][CR-LF]Researchers suggested that injection drug use and waning HBV vaccine effectiveness may be contributing to this trend. “Women of childbearing age represent a priority group for HBV viral elimination efforts due to the risk of mother-to-child transmission of HBV,” Harvey W. Kaufman, MD, MBA, FCAP, senior medical director of medical informatics at Quest Diagnostics, told Infectious Disease News. “Higher rates of acute and chronic HBV among women of childbearing age may increase the rates of HBV infection among infants.”

Quest Diagnostics confirmed it has been cleared in US District Court for the Central District of California Western Division of misappropriating trade secrets from Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in developing a serological test for irritable bowel syndrome.[CR-LF][CR-LF]A jury last week determined that Quest did not steal trade secrets from Cedars-Sinai or breach its contract with the hospital when it developed an IBS test similar to one developed by Cedars-Sinai researchers.

Quest Diagnostics announced today that Manuel O. Méndez has been named Senior Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer effective October 7, 2019.

Positive DOT drug tests will be tracked in the new Drug & Alcohol Clearinghouse database.[CR-LF][CR-LF]Photo courtesy Quest Diagnostics.The federal Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse is finally rolling out in January 2020. This electronic database that will track commercial driver’s license holders who have tested positive for prohibited drug or alcohol use, as well as refusals to take required drug tests, and other drug and alcohol violations. In addition, when a driver who has been found to be in violation completes the required return-to-duty process, this information will also be recorded in the clearinghouse.[CR-LF][CR-LF]The clearinghouse has long been sought as a way to keep commercial drivers who have violated federal drug and alcohol rules from lying about those results and simply getting a job with another motor carrier.

Hospitals frequently license the research and development from their physicians to generate what can be substantial revenue.[CR-LF][CR-LF]Indeed, intellectual property is the bread and butter investment for many academic and nonprofit health systems, helping to bring in some return while allowing physicians, who often develop those innovations themselves, to retain some benefit. Earlier this year, Mayo Clinic said it has generated $600 million in revenue from licensing its IP since 1986.[CR-LF][CR-LF]The dispute between Cedars-Sinai and Quest Diagnostics involves a noninvasive blood test to detect IBS developed by Cedars-Sinai doctor Mark Pimentel.

Quest Diagnostics, the world's leading provider of diagnostic information services, and hc1, the bioinformatics leader in precision testing, unveiled Quest Lab Stewardship powered by hc1, an innovative new service that employs machine learning to harmonise laboratory testing across health systems in order to help optimise laboratory test utilisation.[CR-LF][CR-LF]Quest Lab Stewardship is the result of a strategic collaboration between Quest and hc1 focused on improving costs and clinical impact of lab testing, in- and out- of hospital settings.

Delaware Health Information Network and Quest Diagnostics have been working together for some time, and the network now has extended Quest’s participation as a data provider in Delaware, submitting lab results and clinical data to DHIN. With the new agreement, Quest results will be available to healthcare practitioners statewide through DHIN delivery channels and the Community Health Record’s searchable patient catalog, with the goal to give doctors more actionable information to improve outcomes. Formed in 2007, the Delaware network now offers nearly 20 services.

Quest Diagnostics and hc1 developed a new service that employs machine learning to harmonize laboratory testing across health systems in order to help optimize laboratory test utilization. [CR-LF][CR-LF] Editor's Note: This article originally appeared on Quest Diagnostic's website. [CR-LF][CR-LF]Quest Diagnostics (NYSE: DGX), the world's leading provider of diagnostic information services, and hc1, the bioinformatics leader in precision testing, today unveiled Quest® Lab Stewardship™ powered by hc1®, an innovative new service that employs machine learning to harmonize laboratory testing across health systems in order to help optimize laboratory test utilization.*

Quest Diagnostics and Hc1 are collaborating on a service called Quest Lab Stewardship, which will use Hc1's machine learning technology to help optimize laboratory test use. The technology will collect and analyze laboratory data to improve management of test usage and identify inappropriate or inefficient testing.

Quest Diagnostics (NYSE: DGX), the world's leading provider of diagnostic information services, and hc1, the bioinformatics leader in precision testing, today unveiled Quest® Lab Stewardship™ powered by hc1®, an innovative new service that employs machine learning to harmonize laboratory testing across health systems in order to help optimize laboratory test utilization.*

Delaware Health Information Network and Quest Diagnostics have been working together for some time, and the network now has extended Quest’s participation as a data provider in Delaware, submitting lab results and clinical data to DHIN. With the new agreement, Quest results will be available to healthcare practitioners statewide through DHIN delivery channels and the Community Health Record’s searchable patient catalog, with the goal to give doctors more actionable information to improve outcomes. Formed in 2007, the Delaware network now offers nearly 20 services.

A recent study has demonstrated that machine learning methods can sort out which laboratory tests used in hospitals may have greater patient-care value, and which ones don't.[CR-LF][CR-LF]The study, which was led by Stanford University researchers and published this week in JAMA, analyzed data from 191,506 inpatients at three different hospitals to predict which diagnostic lab tests are medically unnecessary.[CR-LF][CR-LF]Just this week, laboratory testing firm Quest Diagnostics and healthcare solutions company Hc1 announced a partnership to analyze lab data to manage test usage and identify areas where lab tests are inappropriately ordered.

Quest Diagnostics and bioinformatics firm Hc1 yesterday announced a collaboration that has resulted in a service for optimizing lab test utilization across health systems.[CR-LF][CR-LF]Called Quest Lab Stewardship, the service uses hc1's machine learning technology to collect and analyze lab data, allowing systems to better manage test usage and identify areas where usage is inappropriate or inefficient.

Quest Diagnostics (NYSE: DGX), the world's leading provider of diagnostic information services, and hc1, the bioinformatics leader in precision testing, today unveiled Quest® Lab Stewardship™ powered by hc1®, an innovative new service that employs machine learning to harmonize laboratory testing across health systems in order to help optimize laboratory test utilization.*

Secaucus-based Quest Diagnostics, a provider of diagnostic information services, named Manuel O. Méndez senior vice president and chief commercial officer, effective Oct. 7.[CR-LF][CR-LF]“Manuel is a seasoned and dynamic leader with more than 25 years of experience in diagnostics and life sciences,” said Jim Davis, executive vice president, General Diagnostics at Quest. “His deep understanding of health systems and other customer segments will enable us to build on Quest’s strong Commercial foundation.”

One might not expect a dairy company to be a top innovator when it comes to providing healthcare to its employees, but Dallas’ Dean Foods has an award winning benefits plan that is keeping quality high while flipping eight percent annual increases to outright annual reductions.[CR-LF]The company wanted to increase preventative care, and said that if employees and dependents wanted to keep benefitting from their subsidized healthcare from Dean, they needed to get an annual physical, meaning their healthcare costs would nearly double. Partnering with Quest Diagnostics for biometric data, they learned a great deal about their employees from the physicals. That year, the number of annual physicals went from 3,200 to 27,000.

Quest Diagnostics and bioinformatics company Hc1 have announced the debut of Quest Lab Stewardship.

Secaucus-based Quest Diagnostics announced Tuesday that Manuel O. Méndez has been named senior vice president and chief commercial officer.[CR-LF][CR-LF]The provider of diagnostic information services said the appointment will be effective Oct. 7.[CR-LF][CR-LF]“Manuel is a seasoned and dynamic leader with more than 25 years of experience in diagnostics and life sciences,” Jim Davis, executive vice president, General Diagnostics, said. “His deep understanding of health systems and other customer segments will enable us to build on Quest’s strong Commercial foundation.”

Lab testing giant Quest Diagnostics has teamed up with healthcare data analysis company hc1 to try to prevent health systems from ordering too many or too few tests, the organizations announced Wednesday.[CR-LF]The Quest Lab Stewardship service aims to arm providers with the tools to order the right tests, retrieve results quickly, interpret them accurately and ensure reimbursement. The service integrates with the electronic medical record to guide doctors as they order test, creates a systemwide set of tests and analyzes utilization trends.

More people are high on the job, and it’s putting the public’s health and safety on the line.[CR-LF][CR-LF]One in three industries experienced double-digit percentage increases in the share of workers testing positive for a range of drugs between 2015 and 2018, according to a new analysis of more than 14 million urine drug tests results from Quest Diagnostics, a company that provides laboratory tests.

One third of U.S. industry sectors experienced year-over-year double-digit increases in workforce drug positivity between 2015 and 2018, according to a new analysis of industry-specific data by Quest Diagnostics (NYSE: DGX), the world's leading provider of diagnostic information services. The findings will be presented at the Substance Abuse Program Administrators Association (SAPAA) conference in Philadelphia, PA on September 18, 2019.

Over the past 2 years, IBM’s Watson for Oncology cognitive computing system, which uses artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms to generate treatment recommendations, has come under fire for allegedly not delivering on expectations to provide state-of-the-art personalized treatment for patients with cancer and for producing advice that is “unsafe and incorrect.”1,2 Since its inception in 2012, Watson for Oncology has undergone intensive medical training by oncologists at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK) in New York to learn key data associated with a patient’s cancer, such as results from blood tests; pathology and imaging reports detailing the type, size, and location of the tumor; and the presence of genetic mutations. The program then combs through huge amounts of medical literature to provide evidence-based treatment recommendations for that specific patient. To date, Watson has been trained to support treatment decisions in lung, breast, colorectal, bladder, cervical, endometrial, esophageal, stomach, ovarian, prostate, and thyroid cancers, and training will begin soon in several types of lymphomas.[CR-LF]In addition to Watson for Oncology, IBM has launched several other oncology-related offerings aimed at accelerating personalized patient care. They include Watson for Genomics, Watson Genomics from Quest Diagnostics (a Watson-powered genomic-sequencing service), and IBM Watson for Clinical Trial Matching, which uses natural language processing to increase the efficiency and accuracy of the clinical trial matching process.

Quest Diagnostics (NYSE: DGX), the world's leading provider of diagnostic information services, announced today that Manuel O. Méndez has been named Senior Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer effective October 7, 2019. [CR-LF][CR-LF]"Manuel is a seasoned and dynamic leader with more than 25 years of experience in diagnostics and life sciences," said Jim Davis, Executive Vice President, General Diagnostics. "His deep understanding of health systems and other customer segments will enable us to build on Quest's strong Commercial foundation."

Michele Ladouceur wanted to convince her friends that they could save money on routine lab tests by having them done at an independent laboratory. So she snapped photos of a poster in the lobby of the University Suburban Health Center in South Euclid that proved her point. The poster compares prices for routine medical tests at University Suburban, a nonprofit that runs an independent clinical laboratory and diagnostic imaging center, with those charged at area hospitals. A basic metabolic panel that averages $100 at some hospitals is $29 at University Suburban. An ankle X-ray that costs hundreds of dollars at local hospitals is $86 at University Suburban.[CR-LF][CR-LF]Independent labs range from large, national independent labs, such as LabCorp and Quest Diagnostics, to small, local independents.[CR-LF][CR-LF]Quest, based in Secaucus, New Jersey, is one of the largest diagnostic services company in the country, with 2,200 locations nationwide, including five in the Cleveland metro area.

Prescription data alone underestimated how many patients combined opioids and benzodiazepines, an analysis of Quest Diagnostics drug test data indicated.[CR-LF]Among a selected sample of patients whose drug test indicated concurrent benzodiazepine and opioid use, 64% had at least one benzodiazepine or opioid that was not prescribed, according to Quest researcher Leland McClure, PhD, and colleagues in a poster presentation at the 2018 PAINWeek conference.

Gov. Phil Murphy’s administration announced Thursday that health care premiums for some school and local government employees will fall more than two percent next year.[CR-LF][CR-LF]Before the announcement, the School Employees’ Health Benefits Commission and the State Health Benefits Commission — boards comprised of management and labor members — approved health care and prescription premium rates for 2020.[CR-LF][CR-LF]Jennifer Sciortino, a spokeswoman for the Treasury Department, said prescription drug and health benefit administrators are receiving commissions rather than a flat fee for negotiating prices with out-of-network providers. The state was able to remove thousands of people from its rolls after a dependent eligibility audit, and plans to move Quest Diagnostics in network should lower bills for lab work.

Population aging will lead to a rise in the prevalence of chronic health conditions, including diabetes, hypertension, and dementia (1). The prevalence of Alzheimer's disease (AD), the primary cause of dementia, is expected to reach 115.4 million worldwide by 2050 (2). Both AD and undiagnosed anemia are common conditions in nursing homes, with prevalences of around 45% (3). In fact, anemia affects 33% of the world's population, and about half the cases are due to iron deficiency (4). [CR-LF][CR-LF]Red cell distribution width, anemia, and other iron status measures[CR-LF]All laboratory tests selected for this study were done at Quest Diagnostics, Chantilly, VA, following a fasting blood draw, after which participants were offered breakfast.

Optimal health care requires humanism—not just scientific excellence, but also compassion and collaboration. This truth is understood intuitively by patients, their family members, and health care professionals. In 2017, in recognition of the importance of collectively strengthening humanism more broadly across the health care ecosystem, we created the Gold Corporate Council. Five corporations stepped forward to become founding members: BD (Becton, Dickinson and Company), Henry Schein, Inc., IBM Watson Health, Medtronic, and Quest Diagnostics.

Forbes released its annual list of the country's most innovative leaders, comprising 100 founders and CEOs known for encouraging creative and highly successful innovation at their organizations.[CR-LF][CR-LF]To compile the list, leaders from top U.S. companies were ranked based on their media reputation for innovation, social connections and capital related to innovation, track record of market value creation and investor expectations of future growth and innovation. Exemplifying these qualities are Amazon's Jeff Bezos and Tesla's Elon Musk, who tied for first place.[CR-LF][CR-LF]83. Stephen Rusckowski, Quest Diagnostics

By now, the venture world is wary of blood testing startups offering health data from just a few drops of blood. However, Baze, a Swiss-based personal nutrition startup providing blood tests you can do in the convenience of your own home, collects just a smidgen of your sanguine fluid through an MIT manufactured device, which, according to the company, is in accordance with FDA regulations.[CR-LF][CR-LF]The idea is to find out (via your blood sample) which vitamins you’re missing out on and are keeping you from living your best life. That seems to resonate with folks who don’t want to go into the doctor’s office and separately head to their nearest lab for testing.The price is also nice, compared to going to a Quest Diagnostics or LabCorp, which can vary depending on which vitamins you need to test for individually.

Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (DGX), the world's leading provider of diagnostic information services, announced that it is scheduled to speak at the Morgan Stanley Global Healthcare Conference in New York. Stephen Rusckowski, Chairman, President and CEO will discuss the company's vision, goals and two-point strategy to accelerate growth and drive operational excellence. The presentation is scheduled for Monday, September 9, 2019 at 11:40 a.m. Eastern Time.

Clinical laboratories and health insurers also are collaborating on blockchain projects. A recent intelligence briefing from The Dark Report, the sister publication of Dark Daily, describes collaborations between multiple health insurers and Quest Diagnostics to improve their provider directories using blockchain. (See, “Four Insurers, Quest Developing Blockchain,” July 1, 2019.)

Cannabis has long been heralded for its calming properties. But lately it’s having quite the opposite effect on HR professionals, as they navigate the myriad state laws and court cases affecting the controversial substance to create drug-testing policies and procedures.[CR-LF][CR-LF]Possession or use of marijuana remains illegal under federal law. But state laws are changing at a dizzying speed, including some that now limit a company’s ability to fire an employee for failing a drug test. Courts have begun siding with workers who say their off-duty use of cannabis for medical reasons led to their unfair dismissal. Recent court cases have left employers facing discrimination charges for taking action against workers who flunk marijuana tests. Nevada in June limited rejecting job applicants for failing a test. Even cities are getting into the act, with the New York City Council voting in April to ban marijuana testing for job applicants (with exceptions for such jobs as public-safety workers).[CR-LF][CR-LF]Barry Sample, Ph.D., director of science and technology for the employer solutions division of Quest Diagnostics, says the rate of positive tests has increased 35 percent since 2010 in places where marijuana is illegal and has risen even faster in states where it’s legal—in those areas it jumped 71 percent during that period.

Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE: DGX), the world's leading provider of diagnostic information services, announced that it is scheduled to speak at the Baird 2019 Global Healthcare Conference in New York. Steve Rusckowski, Chairman, President and CEO and Jim Davis, Executive Vice President, General Diagnostics will discuss the company's vision, goals and two-point strategy to accelerate growth and drive operational excellence. The presentation is scheduled for Thursday, September 5, 2019 at 11:25 a.m. Eastern Time.

Quest Diagnostics Incorporated Strategy, SWOT and Corporate Finance Report, is a source of comprehensive company data and information. The report covers the company's structure, operation, SWOT analysis, product and service offerings and corporate actions, providing a 360 view of the company.

Prevention of heart disease has centered on smoking cessation, controlling blood pressure, achieving an appropriate weight, regular exercise, control of blood sugar, and control of your cholesterol. Despite addressing and controlling these items, individuals still have heart attacks and strokes and vascular events. Researchers are now directing their attention to a dietary metabolite of red meat called trimethlamine N-oxide or TMAO.[CR-LF][CR-LF]There is even a blood test to measure TMAO levels developed by the Cleveland Clinic and available through Quest Labs. Do not get too excited about asking your physician to order it on your blood because it requires eliminating meat, poultry, and fish plus other food items for several days in advance of the test.

With the recent launch of an automated microbiology system in its Marlborough, Massachusetts laboratory, Quest Diagnostics is looking to streamline a department that has seen less impact from automation than many other parts of the lab.[CR-LF][CR-LF]Sourced from lab automation firm Copan Diagnostics, the system is anticipated to cut costs and turnaround time and help address challenges facing clinical microbiology labs, including staffing shortages and reimbursement cuts.

Laboratory services that identify genetic markers of cancer help predict future cancer, identify existing disease, and guide treatment decisions in oncology care. Despite this foundational role in cancer care, laboratory test services often face coverage and reimbursement pressures from health plans that struggle to evaluate the tests’ clinical and economic value. Both oncologists and payers face an avalanche of information on diagnostic tests, which confuses treatment, coverage, and reimbursement decisions. Despite this, physicians and genetic counselors are willing to evaluate the data à la carte in the context of each patient. Genetic testing has quickly become an accepted aspect of mainstream medicine.1

In the last year, a record number of states have amended or enacted laws which regulate marijuana testing, accommodations, and use. Among these states, at least two states have specifically banned pre-employment testing of marijuana. Some states have also enacted provisions which protect employees from being discriminated against for obtaining a medical marijuana license, require reasonable accommodations and provide privacy rights outside of the workplace. In total, 15 states currently have medical cannabis laws that provide some form of explicit employment protection for medical cannabis users. Needless to say, the rapid progression in marijuana legalization has left employers “Dazed and Confused.”[CR-LF][CR-LF]According to the annual Quest Diagnostics Drug Testing Index, positive marijuana results have increased nearly 24 percent since 2014 for safety-sensitive employees in the federal workplace, who are subject to federally mandated drug testing.

Achievers, an industry-leading employee engagement platform provider, today announced the moderator and panelists of its Chief Human Resource Officer (CHRO) and Executive Leadership session, "The New Digital Workforce and the Future of Employee Engagement," taking place at its 2019 annual user conference, Achievers Customer Experience (ACE). The 2019 CHRO and Executive Leadership session will be moderated by former executive editor of Fast Company and editor and managing director of The Flux Group, Robert Safian. On stage, the esteemed panelists joining Safian will be:[CR-LF][CR-LF]Arielle Meloul-Wechsler, Senior Vice President, People, Culture and Communications, Air Canada[CR-LF]Cecilia McKenney, Senior Vice President, Chief Human Resources Officer, Quest Diagnostics[CR-LF]Michael Agrir, CEO and President, Medxcel[CR-LF]Vanessa Thurston, Interim Vice President & Head of Talent Management, Samsung Electronics America

As Americans marijuana usages continue to climb, workplaces are taking a more lenient approach to drug testing. The Rockefeller Institute of Government recently released a new study looking into marijuana usage, finding more and more Americans are toking up big-time in all 50 states, whether it’s illegal or legal. In states where weed legalization hasn’t been passed, marijuana usage has grown 33% since 2002.Workforce drug positivity reached a fourteen-year high in 2018, according to an analysis by Quest Diagnostics, which discovered nearly a 5% increase (4.4%) in urine drug tests since 2017. The study based its analysis of nearly 9 million workforce urine drug tests performed between January and December 2018.

Some employees are stressed to death at work — literally. But the right benefits can help save lives.[CR-LF][CR-LF]A report gathered by the American Heart Association, and a coalition of over 40 CEOs from large companies — called the AHA CEO Roundtable — illustrated how mental health impacts employees’ physical health, and their employer’s bottom line. The report, “Mental Health: A Workforce in Crisis,” found around 8,000 employees around the world die every year from medical conditions — like strokes and heart attacks — caused by high job demands.[CR-LF][CR-LF]“In order to have a healthy workforce, employers must look at health and wellness holistically – and that includes mental health,” says Steve Rusckowski, CEO of Quest Diagnostics.

Large employers may be excited about recent research which looked at National Health Interview Survey data and found a near-term decline in new cases of diabetes as well as a plateau in existing U.S. cases. While the news that new cases of diabetes may be declining does sound promising, benefit managers should resist the urge to break out the champagne.[CR-LF][CR-LF]Although, it’s understandable why they would want to celebrate. More than half of Americans under age 65 — roughly 158 million people — have health insurance through an employer, and chronic conditions like diabetes are major drivers in the year-over-year increases in employee health benefit costs.

As night approaches at Allegheny County Airport, after most of the air traffic has come and gone, the flight crews of Quest Diagnostics are just getting started.[CR-LF][CR-LF]More than 3,700 Quest ground couriers deliver a wide range of medical samples, including vials of blood and bone marrow, from doctors’ offices and Quest outpatient centers to the airport. Crews load the samples on cargo jets for overnight flights to Quest laboratories to be tested.

The Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) has recently issued draft guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment of Lyme disease. This was written together with the American Academy of Neurology (AAN), and the American College of Rheumatology (ACR). [CR-LF][CR-LF]The Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) has recently issued draft guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment of Lyme disease. This was written together with the American Academy of Neurology (AAN), and the American College of Rheumatology (ACR). They offer a public comment period until August 10, 2019.

A company offering to freeze donors’ T cells and save them until the day they are needed—perhaps even years before the onset of cancer or disease—is getting off the ground with $1 million in funding and partnerships with some of the largest operators in blood sample management and cold chain logistics.[CR-LF][CR-LF]As a kind of T-cell insurance, Cell Vault is pitching a simple concept: Today’s cutting-edge chimeric antigen receptor T-cell (CAR-T) therapies require a starting point of donated T cells, which are genetically modified to better recognize, target and destroy tumor cells before being readministered to the patient. Elsewhere, mobile blood draw and sample collections will be completed by ExamOne, a Quest Diagnostics company. Cell Vault is also gathering medical advice from CAR-T specialists at the Medical College of Wisconsin

An employee has a beer or two with colleagues at a local bar after the work shift is over. Another heads home for a glass of wine with dinner. The next day, there is no alcohol impairment in the worker, and that’s why an employer would not have a problem with either of these scenarios. But even in states where cannabis has been legalized, drug testing continues to search for signs of marijuana use that in no way necessarily reflects worker impairment.The number of positives for drugs in the workforce has reached a 14-year high of 4.4%, according to an annual analysis conducted by Quest Diagnostics, one of the nation’s largest clinical laboratory testing companies. The rates of drug use are now more than 25% higher than the 30-year low of 3.5 percent recorded between 2010 and 2012.

Make sure the lab is in-network[CR-LF]If your insurance only covers lab work done at, say, Quest Diagnostics, but your doctor usually sends their samples to a different lab, you can end up footing the bill. Before getting your test done, double-check which labs will be covered by your insurance and be sure to notify your doctor; it’s just one question you should be asking your doctor but probably aren’t.

Quest Diagnostics reported today that its second quarter revenues grew a little less than 2 percent year over year.[CR-LF][CR-LF]For the three months ended June 30, total revenues reached $1.95 billion, up from $1.92 billion a year ago, and beating the consensus Wall Street estimate of $1.94 billion.[CR-LF][CR-LF]Quest Diagnostic Information Services revenues also grew about 2 percent to $1.87 billion from $1.84 billion. On a conference call, Quest CFO Mark Guinan said that the increase was driven by strong volume growth and acquisitions, but partially offset by higher reimbursement pressures and patient concessions.

Quest Diagnostics compiles data on more than 10 million drug tests a year. Only a small number of companies have struck marijuana from the list of drugs they screen for, and nationally, roughly 99 percent of all general work force drug tests include marijuana.[CR-LF][CR-LF]“For the most part it hasn’t had a large effect in those recreational-use states and no measurable effect in the medical marijuana states,” said Barry Sample, Quest’s senior director for science and technology.

Quest Diagnostics (NYSE: DGX), the world's leading provider of diagnostic information services, announced today the expansion of the Global Diagnostics Network (GDN), a strategic working group of major diagnostic laboratories collaborating to generate enhanced diagnostics insights to improve the delivery of global healthcare. Regional companies LSI Medience, and Strand Life Sciences join Quest and the charter members -- Al Borg Medical Laboratories, Dasa, GC Labs, Healius, KingMed Diagnostics, SYNLAB – as GDN members.

Quest Diagnostics said today it has entered an agreement to provide Catholic Health Services of Long Island with laboratory management services and reference testing.[CR-LF][CR-LF]Under the agreement, Quest will provide CHS with lab testing as well as management of lab equipment, supplies, and procurement processes. The agreement covers six CHS hospitals, a core lab, a cancer center, and an infusion center.

Digital health firm Sharecare said today that it is collaborating with Quest Diagnostics on tools for digital health management.[CR-LF][CR-LF]As part of the collaboration, Quest has made a strategic investment of an undisclosed amount in Sharecare, which named Quest its preferred laboratory partner. The development of disease management programs and other services will also be explored, they said.

HHS recently announced the creation of the Quality Summit, which will bring together federal and private healthcare stakeholders to evaluate and streamline federal value-based care programs.[CR-LF][CR-LF]The summit is in response to the Trump Administration’s recent executive order calling for greater healthcare price and quality transparency. Physicians in a 2018 report from Quest Diagnostics also called for less complex quality measurement.

Quest Diagnostics (NYSE: DGX), the world’s leading provider of diagnostic information services, today launched a new Lyme Disease test offering that individuals can purchase through Quest’s consumer-initiated testing service, QuestDirect.[CR-LF][CR-LF]The blood test screens for immunoglobulin M (IgM) and immunoglobulin G (IgG) antibodies produced by the body to fight infection to the bacterium that causes Lyme disease. Through this service, individuals who suspect they have been bitten by a tick carrying Lyme disease can purchase laboratory tests to aid in the identification of Lyme Disease. Individuals 18 years of age or older may access the test service at any of Quest’s 2,250 patient service centers across the United States without first needing to consult a physician. The service is available in 45 states starting today.

In a fascinating LinkedIn post titled, “Who’s Responsible For Healthcare's Biggest Problems? 'Not Me.',” ​former Permanente Medical Group Chief Executive Officer and Exxecutive Director Robert Pearl, MD, observes that there is a lot of finger pointing at the “culprits” to blame for America’s failures to improve clinical outcomes and contain spending. [CR-LF]A recent Quest Diagnostics study presented at the recent ADA 79th Scientific Sessions found that individuals at risk of developing type 2 diabetes who take part in an employer-sponsored wellness program with digital interventions can reduce their risk of developing the chronic disease for up to 8 years. Sixty-two percent of participants lost weight after the DPP, with 31% losing 5% or more of body weight, and levels for all biometric markers in the risk model—including for glycated hemoglobin, high-density lipoproteins (HDL, or "good" cholesterol), fasting glucose, and triglycerides—improved across all study cohorts.

United Health Group announced its plans to invest around $8 million over the next five years to launch a data science initiative with the Atlanta University Center Consortium, a group of historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs), per Forbes. But VBC implementation has been a big headache for providers — and it's slowing adoption.Nearly 80% of US providers say the shift to value-based care reimbursement models hasn't been successful, according to a 2018 Medical Group Management Association survey of 426 individuals from group health practices. Because VBC relies on accurate data collection and reporting to calculate payment, the clerical burden on doctors has significantly increased. And close to 60% of payers think physicians lack the proper tools to find success under a VBC model, according to a 2018 Quest Diagnostics survey. This friction with providers is putting a major drag on VBC adoption: We reported last week that only 25% of healthcare organizations' revenue comes from VBC, per estimates from a 2018 Optum-sponsored survey.

Since the dawn of time, there have been women who get pregnant without a second thought—and in some cases without even trying—and there have been women who have had to endure years of struggling to conceive. Somewhere in between are the women who talk about kids “someday” with no indication of whether or not someday will ever actually come. Beyond that there are women who just don’t know what the future holds for them and for a lot of us, this is a source of existential anxiety.Modern Fertility is a hormone test you can order to your home or take to your local Quest Diagnostics so that you have a clearer picture of your reproductive future.

When employers invest in a digital diabetes prevention program (DPP), they want to see measurable clinical results and high levels of engagement. Quest Diagnostics recently demonstrated both in a partnership with Omada Health, with 62% of the participants losing weight and the average employee completing more than 25 lessons over 9 months.1 The findings were presented at the American Diabetes Association (ADA) 79th Scientific Sessions.

At a time when clinicians are already increasingly switching to interferon-gamma release-based assays (IGRAs) for tuberculosis testing, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently warned of an anticipated shortage of a key antibody for tuberculin skin tests (TSTs) conducted in clinics. [CR-LF]Hema Kapoor, medical director of infectious diseases and immunology at Quest Diagnostics, said in an interview that while the response to the current announcement will depend on how clinicians react to it, over the years she has seen continuing growth for IGRA testing, supported by guidelines that have recommended blood-based TB testing over skin testing for certain populations.

On the 25th June, Q2 released details of its completed Proof of Concept for tracking biological samples using distributed ledger technology (DLT). The project, with enterprise blockchain firm R3 and medical tech company HSBlox, involved a simulation of the entire process; collecting, transporting, testing, and storing the sample.[CR-LF][CR-LF]Q2, a joint venture of IQVIA and Quest Diagnostics to provide services to clinical trial labs, conducted the effort. Atlanta based HSBlox developed the patent-pending Digital Sample Manager for the project, which runs on R3’s Corda blockchain and Microsoft’s Azure.

On Jan. 1, Illinois became the 11th state to allow recreational marijuana sales. But despite its increasing availability in the U.S., laws to protect cannabis-using job seekers are still uncommon.[CR-LF][CR-LF]That’s changing in Nevada, which legalized recreational use of pot in 2017, and now bans employers from denying jobs to applicants who test positive for marijuana on a pre-employment drug test — excluding jobs with safety issues, like fire fighters or other emergency responders.[CR-LF][CR-LF]Such protections aren’t available in California, where recreational use has been legal since 2016 and medical use has been legal for more than two decades. That’s made finding work difficult for 20-year old Layla Larson, who said she uses cannabis daily to manage her epilepsy and anxiety.

A Quest Diagnostics webinar discussed how lab services fit in with value-based care strategies and could reduce total healthcare costs, improve care coordination, and enhance member experiences.[CR-LF]Laboratories can boost care coordination, reduce healthcare spending, and improve member experiences by applying innovative value-based care strategies, according to a webinar presented by Quest Diagnostics, In Value-Based Care Innovation: Collaborating With Labs. For the webinar, Quest reviewed data from survey reports regarding trends in healthcare and highlighted the company's effort to move away from traditional fee-for-service payment models.

Center on Addiction, a national nonprofit committed to transforming how the nation addresses addiction, released a report today that provides insights into teens' attitudes about drugs, alcohol and nicotine. The national survey of adolescents aged 12-17 found that drugs, alcohol and nicotine are highly prevalent and accessible in teens' lives, particularly as they enter high school. Teens also indicated that parents have the largest influence over their decisions and actions. Despite this, parents often pull back right when the risk of substance use spikes.Access to drugs, alcohol and nicotine is especially high among those with friends who use substances. According to the survey, 53% of teens with at least one friend who uses drugs said they would be able to get marijuana within a day or less, compared to 11% of teens who do not have any friends who use drugs. Those with friends who use drugs also find it much easier to access cigarettes (56% vs. 22%) and e-cigarettes (53% vs. 16%).[CR-LF][CR-LF]This survey was made possible by a grant provided by Quest Diagnostics.

A new law in New York City will prohibit most employers who operate there from conducting pre-employment drug testing for marijuana.[CR-LF][CR-LF]The law was passed last month and will go into effect May 10, 2020.[CR-LF][CR-LF]Certain positions, such as police officers, construction workers, commercial drivers, and workers caring for children or medical patients, among others, were excluded from the law.[CR-LF][CR-LF]About 2.8 percent of workers and job applicants tested positive for marijuana in 2018, according to Quest Diagnostics statistics.

Individuals with prediabetes who participate in an employer-sponsored digital diabetes-prevention counseling program may reduce their risk of developing type 2 diabetes (T2D) for up to eight years, according to a new study from Quest Diagnostics (NYSE: DGX), the world's leading provider of diagnostic information services.[CR-LF][CR-LF]The new study, "Digital Behavioral Counseling in a Workforce Setting Reduces 8-Year Risk of Developing Type 2 Diabetes" (77-LB), is believed to be the first to suggest lower risk of diabetes may be sustained following participation in a time-limited digital Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP). DPPs, which typically consist of education modules on diet and exercise, are recognized by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as an effective means of reducing risk for type 2 diabetes (T2D).

Medicare beneficiaries who had both diabetes and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) or a more advanced version of inflammation and fat buildup, known as nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), had 2 times the mortality rate of the general population, according to data presented last week at the 79th Scientific Sessions of the American Diabetes Association (ADA).[CR-LF][CR-LF]The Global Liver Institute is raising awareness about NAFLD and NASH, and Wednesday marked the second International NASH Day. Both NAFLD and NASH are increasing worldwide with the increased prevalence of obesity, which now affects more than 650 billion people.[CR-LF]Diagnosis of NASH is difficult, as a definitive diagnosis requires a liver biopsy. However, Quest Diagnostics has developed the NAFLD Fibrosis Score Panel, a noninvasive tool to identify patients whose disease has progressed to liver fibrosis.